Blood Shed
by Seldin
Summary: In Arya's life, blood always had a meaningful signification.


Blood shed

In the middle of the wet night of Braavos, a girl awoke. She felt something was wrong, she felt wrong so many times in her short life, she could tell when something was strange... And it was currently the case. She quickly checked her surroundings but she knew the change didn't come from there. The change, the strangeness that she felt was _in_ her.

Her belly hurted like the seven hells. She felt like if millions knives were stucked in it. She was no stranger to pain, psychological or physical but this one was in her very core, in a place which never knew pain. The only part of her maybe.

A girl lifted her thin blanket and lighted a candle to inspect her body. When she drew the little flame near her bed, she saw... a familiar shight : red, blood. Everywhere. She was bleeding. But this blood was no regular blood. It was a _woman's blood._

It was like she was strucked by lighting.

And suddently, a girl became Arya Stark again.

She was back at Winterfell, seated between Sansa and Septa Mordaine, facing their lady mother, doing stupid needlework she didn't care about at all. Sansa asked to the two women about when a girl is considered a woman. Their mother carefully explained what was called « moon blood » and what it meant. Sansa had seem disgusted but hopefull since moon blood gives a woman fertility. But Arya, ever since then, lived in the fear of that dreaded day.

When she has her first moon blood, her father will look for a match for her. And she'll have to marry some Lord she never met before, leave Winterfell and give him sons and maybe daughters... She once prayed the gods to spare her, to make her stay the way she was forever. With everything that happened during the most recent years of her life, she didn't think about it once. She may have prayed the gods years ago, but they didn't listen to her... She was a woman now.

A loud noise of some brawl rang out, anchoring to to the present.

And Arya Stark became a girl again.

Almost.

While she was washing what she could and changing the sheets, she tought about what all of that meant, of the changes it would bring to her.

The was a woman now, she could bear children. In Westeros, she would have been married to some Lord soon after. She would have started her own family.

But not now, not anymore. Now she wasn't Arya Stark, she was no one. And she had no family, she will never have one ever again.

The next day, the Waif taught her how to make a certain powder of her invention. It would stop her monthly bleeding as long as she took it. So, she would truly be no one, as the Many Face God asked.

The girl gratefully drank the powder diluted in water. She didn't want to be a woman, to have a family of her own. None would replace the one she lost or... the one she almost had.

She could remember this cave perfectly : the darkness, the wetness in the air and the smell of fire smoke. And him, fixing some armor. She told him she could be his family but he pushed her away. Since then, she had truly been alone in this wide world.

Arya sat beside the sea, her feet in the water. She was trying to relax, wich was difficult for her but she really needed it since her nights were shorts and left her tired...

She gently stroked her belly, enjoying the sea breeze on her face. She was happy that she lost her powder bag during to travel from Braavos to Winterfell. In her childhood home, she met her sister again, after all these awful years. Her moon blood brought them together even more, her sister and Brienne and her. They felt a true feeling of sorority thanks to that. Sansa helped her with the fabric she had to put in her panties and gave her a proper womanly talk... She really took her role as a big sister seriously !

There, in Winterfell she was also reunited with Gendry, her stupid bull. As soon as she saw him, she knew she wanted him. And she knew he felt the same.

So, she spent the night before the Battle for Dawn with him. She wanted to know what the fuss was all about. She wanted to feel his rough hands, his lips on her skin. And she wanted to touch him everywhere. That was what she planned but... in life, things rarely happen as you plan.

This night, in his arms, what was left of her inner armor shattered. It wasn't love, not yet but almost... But who cared ? One of them would surely die during the battle and even if the gods were good, she had a list to complete, Cersei to kill. And she had little hope to survive to this...

But the worst for her has been after the battle, when he came to her to propose. He told her he as been legitimised, that he loved her and wished to marry her. He was one one knee, stressed yet hopeful, his gaze full of love...

Too much, too soon. She pushed him away, she didn't plan to live, just to accomplish her revenge. When she was done, she would think about her life. But even then, she knew this plan didn't included the life of a Lady... He would do an amazing Lord, just and compassionate. He would accomplish his dream, having a rank in the society. She would never see him again, she will miss him dearly.

After the battle of King's Landing, she wanted to kill Daenerys herself, for all these innocents people she uselessly murdered. For the first time, she didn't want to kill for personnal revenge but to prevent further horror to happen. She was fighting for others, this thought made her smile. She was becoming like Sandor... Her heart hurted, she would miss him so badly.

After all, she didn't have the occasion to kill the Mad Queen, Jon did. She didn't listen more about all this shit, all these deaths, about power. The only thing she knew was that she wanted to leave Westeros, this madness and massacres, forever.

So, she took the road that led to the west of the kingdom without telling anyone.

As soon as she arrived Lannisport, she searched for ship and an adventurous crew. She wanted to discover what was west of Westeros.

Everyone refused, of course... but one captain. He was a middle-aged man drowing in his debts. His crew was full of young and poor lads full of hope at the mention of a new continent.

Il took them months of searches, of return trips for the supplies. But the result was here : another continent existed !

They berthed the ship the best they could before walking on a sand beach. Not a soul to be seen. They settled quicly on these new lands.

Soon after, other people arrived : hardworking farmers and craftsmen who heard that the Dawn Bringer, the one who saved them all, was looking for people to found a free city. Their hearts full of joyful optimism, they answered her call. They nicknamed her « the new Nymeria », which amused her a lot, bringing to her the ghost presence of her direwolf by her side.

Arya sighted, she was far away of Westeros, at last. She loosed the strips of fabric she put around her womb every morning. Il was becoming round and imposible to hide. She was pregnant.

So, here she was, her feet in the water and the light sea breeze on her face. She could feel the child mouving in her now. If the baby was a boy, she would name him Yoren. For the Black Brother who took her from the capital and Lannister's claws and died for it. Her and Gendry.

Their child would grow here, in this new land. She would build a new society where no one is judged by blood. She would make the world a better place for her child. He would be free to do and to be whatever he or she wanted.

She didn't regret leaving Westeros at all, she just regreted Gendry's presence at her side. She wished he knew he would be a father soon.

A family, a pack of her own, a new land full of oppotunities, a boundless future.

Once, she was a girl, then she became Arya Stark again, now she was just Arya.

Once she was vengeful, full of rage, now she was finally at peace.


End file.
